When you hear the word “pandemic,” you might imagine an apocalyptic scenario in which our very existence is threatened. That might have been the case in the Middle Ages but today, pandemics are far less dangerous and more common than you think.

The most recognized is the flu, as it is the only pandemic in recent times to affect our country. But there are others out there and they continue to spread under the radar.

On this week’s episode of The Super Awesome Science Show, we take a look at pandemics. Starting with the flu, we talk with Dr. Earl Brown of the University of Ottawa to examine how these events begin and how we can use medicine to stop them in their tracks.

We next talk with Dr. David Evans of the University of Alberta to explore whether or not we may be able to make a pandemic virus in the lab. He has made headlines for making a virus entirely from mail-order components but as we find out, it’s not as easy as it seems.

In our SASS Class, we examine another pandemic threat – the melting permafrost. We can resurrect microbes and worms frozen for tens of thousands of years meaning we may unleash a Pandora’s box of pathogenic pain. But Dr. Charles Greer of the National Research Council of Canada calms that fear and tells us about how the microbes in the frozen soil may help prevent a different type of pandemic – the global warming apocalypse.

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